Central to a proper understanding of the transfiguration narrative
is the recognition that in all three of its Gospel versions it has the literary
genre of an “epiphany” rather than of a “theophany” or “vision.” Understood as
a technical designation for a biblical literary genre, “theophany” refers to a
disposition of literary motifs which describes a coming of God recognized by the
terrifying circumstances that accompany it, such as earthquakes or storm
phenomena, rather than by seeing the actual figure of God. A “vision” is a
disposition of literary motifs which narrates the seeing by a privileged
individual or group of supernatural phenomena located mainly in the heavenly
realm. A vision employs a verb of seeing or its equivalent and centers upon a
seeing of heavenly realities reserved to the viewer. An “epiphany” as a modern,
technical designation for an ancient literary genre is a disposition of literary
motifs which narrates a sudden and unexpected manifestation of a divine or
heavenly being experienced by certain selected persons as an event independent
of their seeing, in which the divine being reveals a divine attribute, action,
or message.

Like the literary genre of theophany, an epiphany narrates a coming
of a divine being. In a theophany the divine being remains invisible and his
coming is recognized only by its effects on nature, such as earthquakes or storm
phenomena. But in an epiphany the divine being assumes visible form and appears
before the eyes of human beings. Like the literary genre of vision, an epiphany
narrates the viewing of heavenly realities. In a vision the viewing is of
heavenly realities or phenomena seen only through the eyes of a selected viewer
mainly within a heavenly location or context. But in an epiphany the heavenly
phenomena take place on earth as an event visible to anyone privileged to
witness it.

Although the transfiguration epiphany centers upon the recognition
of the transfigured Jesus’ true identity, the climactic accent of the divine
voice from the epiphanic cloud falls on the command: “Listen to him!” This
command creates the final dramatic tension of the epiphany and leaves the Gospel
audiences in suspense as to whether the disciples will listen to Jesus as God’s
beloved Son. Since the entire transfiguration epiphany is oriented to and
issues in this climactic, authoritative command or mandate from
the epiphanic voice, we may label it as a “mandatory epiphany.”

The mandatory epiphanies to Balaam in Num 22:31-35, to Joshua in
Josh 5:13-15, and to Heliodorus in 2 Macc 3:22-34 provide literary precedents
for the Gospel audiences to recognize and understand the literary genre of the
transfiguration narrative as that of a similar “pivotal mandatory epiphany,” in
which the climactic mandate serves as a pivotal focus. These are all examples
of a special kind of mandatory epiphany. The climactic commands that represent
the whole point and purpose of the epiphanies closely relate to and clarify the
meaning of the epiphanic appearances. The climactic commands also enunciate and
refer the audience to key recurring themes that play pivotal roles in the
broader narrative contexts in which these mandatory epiphanies are located.

In the case of the transfiguration mandatory epiphany the pivotal
mandate not only points out that Jesus, rather than Moses or Elijah, is God’s
beloved Son, but also directs the disciples and the audience to listen to Jesus
in order to understand the significance of the epiphanic appearance of the
transfigured Jesus in conversation with Moses and Elijah. The words of Jesus
that the disciples and the audience are to heed are the words predicting his
passion, death and resurrection, a recurring theme of pivotal significance in
each of the Gospel narratives in which the transfiguration occurs.

Jesus’ Transfiguration as an Epiphanic Motif

We now turn our attention to the meaning and significance of the
remarkable external change in Jesus’ face and clothing, the actual
transformation or “transfiguration” of Jesus as an epiphanic motif. Our
investigation of the meaning and background of the literary motif of the
“transfiguration” of Jesus leads us to conclude that it describes his external,
proleptic, and temporary transformation by God into a heavenly being while still
on earth. It points the Gospel audiences to Jesus’ future and permanent
attainment of glory in heaven as promised to the righteous after their death.

This result rules out several other suggested interpretations.
Jesus’ transfiguration is not an internal self-transformation, but an external
transformation effected by God. It is not a “revelation” or “disclosure” of his
otherwise hidden eternal glory, but a temporary “transfiguration” or
“transformation” of his external appearance. Although Jesus ascends a mountain,
which is close to the heavenly realm, to be transfigured, he does not ascend
into heaven itself but remains on earth.

Jesus’ transfiguration does not mean that he is a new, second, or
greater Moses. The “glorification” of Moses on Mount Sinai did not occur in an
epiphany; it involved only his face; and it followed his speaking with
God. Jesus’ transfiguration, on the other hand, occurred as an epiphanic
appearance; it involved not only his face but his clothing; and it preceded
his conversation with the heavenly figures of Moses and Elijah.

Although the literary background to Jesus’ transfiguration involves
similarities to the heavenly figures of God and angels, his transfiguration does
not mean that he has become an actual angel or God, only that his appearance has
become temporarily angel-like or God-like. Nor does his white clothing mean he
has become a heavenly priestly figure. Rather, the background most relevant for
the Gospel audiences to understand the motif of the transfigured Jesus, a human
being still on earth, is that involving the heavenly glory promised to the
righteous in general after their death.

The Epiphanic Appearance of Moses and Elijah with Jesus

Perhaps the most popular interpretation of Moses and Elijah in the
transfiguration account has been that together they represent the Jewish
scriptures, the Law and the Prophets, now fulfilled and surpassed by Jesus.
Although “Moses” can and often does stand for the Jewish Torah, Elijah by
himself does not normally represent all of the prophets to complement Moses in
this way. Indeed, the scriptures consider both Moses and Elijah to be notable
prophets, who together can represent the entire prophetic tradition.

The prophets Moses and Elijah appear from heaven in conversation
with the transfigured Jesus to contrast the way that he will ultimately attain
the same heavenly glory they enjoy. According to the biblical account and later
Jewish traditions familiar to the Gospel audiences Elijah, although he suffered
persecution as a prophet, attained heavenly glory by ascending directly into
heaven without dying the death of a rejected prophet.

According to the biblical account Moses, although he suffered
rebellion and opposition from his people, was never put to death as a rejected
prophet. He died and was buried in a very extraordinary way, honored and
revered by his people. Later Jewish traditions indicate that the great prophet
Moses attained heavenly glory either at the time of his mysterious death and
burial or, like the prophet Elijah, without dying at all.

The Gospel audiences know that Jesus, unlike Moses and Elijah, will
suffer the destiny of the disgraceful death of a rejected prophet. The Gospel
audiences know that Jesus, unlike Moses and Elijah, will attain heavenly glory
only after being unjustly put to death by his people and raised from the dead by
his heavenly Father.

The Three Tents

Since Peter himself appears rather uncertain as to the
appropriateness of making a tent for each of the three heavenly visitors, the
audiences of the transfiguration narratives cannot be sure what exactly Peter
has in mind for the tents. After all, “tents” and “dwelling places” play
various and yet very important roles in the biblical traditions. From their
knowledge and familiarity with these various “tent” traditions the audience may
think that Peter wants to make three tents as temporary dwelling places (1) to
honor each individual heavenly figure and commemorate what God has done in
bringing about this marvelous manifestation of each of the three heavenly
figures, analogous to the commemorative role of the tents at the Feast of
Tabernacles; (2) to provide fitting locations for each of the heavenly,
prophetic figures to continue his glorious appearance and communicate divine
instructions to the disciples on earth, analogous to the role of the tent as a
place for divine communication in the Tent of Meeting; (3) to furnish on earth
appropriate hospitable habitations for their sojourn similar to the habitations
that Abraham, the patriarchs, and all the righteous enjoy in heaven.

But the audience soon realizes that whatever Peter meant by the
making of three tents, his offer was inappropriate for two main reasons. First,
although Peter mentions Jesus in the most important first position in his offer
to make three tents, he nevertheless places Jesus on the same level and in the
same category as Moses and Elijah. That this is wrong becomes evident as God’s
voice from the overshadowing cloud directs the disciples and the audience to
listen only to Jesus, God’s own Son.

Secondly, although tents are temporary dwellings, the epiphanic
manifestation of the three heavenly figures turns out to be an extremely
ephemeral event, negating any need for even the temporary dwelling of a tent.
The appearance of the transfigured Jesus is but a momentary anticipation of the
permanent heavenly glory he will attain only after the suffering, death and
resurrection that he has predicted for himself. It is this prophetic prediction
by God’s own beloved Son that the heavenly voice from the cloud commands the
disciples and audience to heed. We now turn to the significance and background
of the divine voice from the overshadowing cloud, as a second epiphanic action
which interrupts Peter’s offer to make three tents.

The Epiphanic Appearance of the Overshadowing Cloud

By the end of each transfiguration narrative the audience realizes
that the epiphanic cloud has overshadowed only Moses and Elijah. The
cloud, representative of God’s presence, has not only concealed Moses and Elijah
from the eyes of the disciples but has also separated them from Jesus, so that
the disciples no longer see Moses and Elijah, but only Jesus. This is confirmed
by the oracular function of the cloud, in which the voice of God speaks
“from the cloud” to the disciples, who are thus outside the cloud, and directs
them to listen to Jesus, the only one left standing there, who is also thus
outside of the cloud.

Although a cloud is not necessary as a medium for the voice of God,
the overshadowing cloud and the voice work together as an ironic interruption of
Peter’s uncertain offer to make a tent each for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. By
way of analogy with the Tent of Meeting, Peter plausibly wants to make a tent in
honor of each heavenly figure at which each can continue to deliver divine
communication, thus prolonging and extending to the disciples the conversation
they see but do not hear taking place among the three heavenly figures. By
making a tent for each, Peter would thus place each on the same level, honoring
each with an equal opportunity to speak and thus prolong the epiphanic event.
But the overshadowing cloud ironically interrupts Peter’s offer to make a
“tent,” “dwelling place,” or “covering” for each as it “covers over” or “tents
over” Moses and Elijah. Then, adding to the irony, the voice of God himself
utters a dramatic divine communication to the disciples, the mandate of this
pivotal mandatory epiphany, directing them and the audiences to listen not to
Moses and Elijah at tents but to Jesus left standing there alone, authorized as
God’s Son.

The vehicular function of the overshadowing cloud complements
its oracular function. Since the disciples see only Jesus after the voice of
God speaks from the overshadowing cloud, the audience, from their knowledge of
the vehicular function of clouds, is naturally to deduce that the overshadowing
cloud has not only concealed Moses and Elijah but is in the process of or has
already transported these figures back to heaven from which they appeared in
conversation with the transfigured Jesus. By enveloping and transporting Moses
and Elijah back to heaven, the epiphanic overshadowing cloud has brought this
entire epiphanic event to an abrupt conclusion, as the disciples see Jesus left
there alone, restored to his pre-transfigured, earthly state.

The Markan Transfiguration and the Antecedent Narrative

When the audience hears that “Jesus took along Peter and James and
John, and led them up to a high mountain privately, alone” (Mark 9:2), they are
prepared for the possibility of a dramatic revelatory encounter with God. The
initial epiphanic action of this pivotal mandatory epiphany occurs as Jesus was
suddenly and unexpectedly “transfigured” by God into a heavenly figure before
the three disciples (9:2). That no bleacher on the earth could thus
whiten his clothes that became very radiantly white (9:3) confirms for the
audience the heavenly nature of Jesus’ transformed clothing. Jesus’
transfiguration, his external, proleptic, and temporary transformation by God
into a heavenly being while still on earth, indicates to the audience his future
and permanent attainment of glory in heaven as promised to the righteous after
their death.

The epiphanic transfiguration of Jesus is immediately followed by an
additional epiphanic appearance of the heavenly figures of Elijah with Moses in
conversation with Jesus before the eyes of the three disciples (9:4). The
audience knows that neither Moses nor Elijah, although great prophets who
experienced opposition, were put to death by their people. Does the appearance
of the heavenly Moses and Elijah in close association with the transfigured
Jesus mean that he also will attain heavenly glory like them, without dying the
death of a rejected prophet?

That the three disciples became terrifed at the epiphany of the
transfigured Jesus in conversation with Moses and Elijah was the reason Peter
did not know what to reply (9:6), when he responded to the revelation of the
more profound identity of Jesus in relation to Moses and Elijah by suggesting
the making of a tent for each (9:5). Peter would place each heavenly figure on
the same level by making a tent for each to prolong his glorious epiphanic
appearance and to continue the divine communication for the benefit of the
disciples.

But Peter is interrupted by yet another sudden and unexpected
epiphanic appearance as a cloud overshadowed Moses and Elijah, implicitly
transporting them back to heaven. After Jesus’ baptism God’s voice from the
heavens told Jesus, “You are by beloved Son, with you I am well pleased!”
(1:11). But now God’s voice from the cloud tells the three disciples, “This is
my beloved Son; listen to him!” (9:7). What the audience (1:, 11) and the
demonic world have already known (3:11; 5:7) God now reveals directly to the
three disciples (9:7).

God’s voice from the cloud (9:7) serves as the pivotal mandate that
distinguishes Jesus from Moses and Elijah as God’s beloved Son and commands the
disciples and the audience to listen to Jesus. The mandate thus “pivots” them
back to the previous teaching of Jesus (4:2-3, 9, 23-24; 7:14; 8:18), especially
his teaching about the necessity for him and his followers to suffer and to lose
their lives (8:31-38) before entering into the heavenly glory of God’s kingdom
anticipated by Jesus’ transfiguration. As the pivotal mandatory epiphany
concludes with Jesus again alone with the disciples (9:8), the burning question
remains: Will the disciples and the audience heed the pivotal epiphanic mandate
and listen to Jesus in order to understand the way that he and they will attain
the heavenly glory anticipated by his transfiguration?

The Markan Transfiguration and the Subsequent Narrative

The mandate of the Markan transfiguration epiphany, “Listen to him!”
(9:7), has pivoted the disciples and the audience back to Jesus’ first
pronouncement for them to follow him on his way to suffering and death before
being resurrected to heavenly glory (8:31-38). It has also pivoted them forward
to the subsequent predictions of the necessity for him (9:12, 31-32; 10:32-34;
12:1-12; 14:8, 22-25, 27-31, 32-42) as well as them (10:35-45) to give their
lives in humble, suffering service for others with the assurance of being raised
from the dead (9:9; 12:18-27; 16:5-8) and seeing his final coming in the
heavenly glory (13:26; 14:62) prefigured by his transfiguration.

Elijah has already come in the person of John the Baptist (1:2-6),
and “they did to him whatever they wished” (9:13), that is, put him to death
(6:19), as Jesus will be put to death. Therefore, the audience is to realize
that Elijah has not come (9:11) as the heavenly figure the disciples witnessed
in the transfiguration epiphany (9:4). And Elijah will not come to take Jesus
down from the cross (15:35-36), because unlike the Elijah in the transfiguration
epiphany, who attained heavenly glory without being put to death, Jesus must
suffer death before attaining the heavenly glory foreshadowed by his
transfiguration.

The audience experienced a shocking irony when the Roman centurion
who witnessed Jesus’ death is the only human being to confess his divine sonship:
“Truly this man was Son of God!” (15:39). Because he listened to how Jesus
revealed himself to be Son of God by dying on the cross with a loud voice of
total trust in God’s plan that he suffer and die (cf. 12:6; 14:36), the
centurion confirmed for the audience God’s own voice from the overshadowing
cloud at the transfiguration: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him!” (9:7;
cf. 1:11).

Only with a humble, faith-filled prayer for God’s powerful help will
the disciples and the audience be healed of their metaphorical deafness and
muteness (9:14-29) to the divine necessity of following Jesus’ way of suffering
and death. The powerful Gethsemane prayer of Jesus empowers the audience to
play their role in God’s plan by watching and praying. By praying in imitation
and on the strength of Jesus’ prayer, they can submit their wills to God’s will
and follow Jesus’ way of suffering and death, as they await Jesus’ final coming
in the glory prefigured by his tranfiguration (14:32-42, 62).

The Markan narrative challenges the audience to tell others of the
significance of Jesus’ transfiguration (9:9) as the assurance that resurrection
to heavenly glory follows suffering and death for the gospel of Jesus (16:5-8).

The Matthean Transfiguration and the Antecedent Narrative

In Matt 17:1 when the audience hears that “Jesus took along Peter
and James and John his brother, and led them up to a high mountain privately,”
they are prepared for the possibility of some sort of a dramatic revelatory
encounter with God. The initial epiphanic action of this pivotal mandatory
epiphany occurs as Jesus was suddenly and unexpectedly “transfigured” by God
into a heavenly figure before the three disciples. That “his face shone as the
sun, while his clothes became white as the light” (17:2) confirms for the
audience the heavenly nature of Jesus’ transformed face and clothing. Jesus’
metamorphosis, his external, proleptic, and temporary transformation by God into
a heavenly being while still on earth, indicates to the audience his future and
permanent attainment of glory in heaven as promised to the righteous after their
death.

The epiphanic transfiguration of Jesus is immediately followed by an
additional epiphanic appearance of the heavenly figures of Moses and Elijah in
conversation with Jesus before the eyes of the three disciples (17:3). The
audience knows that although Moses and Elijah were great prophets who
experienced opposition and rejection, they were never put to death by their own
people. Does the appearance of the heavenly Moses and Elijah in close
association with the transfigured Jesus mean that he also will attain heavenly
glory like them, without dying the death of a rejected prophet?

Peter would place each heavenly figure in the same category by
offering to make a tent for each to prolong his glorious epiphanic appearance
and to continue the divine communication for the benefit of the disciples
(17:4). But Peter is interrupted by yet another sudden and unexpected epiphanic
appearance as a bright cloud overshadowed the heavenly Moses and Elijah,
implicitly taking them back to heaven. God’s voice from the cloud not only
confirms the disciples’ and Peter’s previous confessions of Jesus’ divine
sonship (14:33; 16:16), it also reinforces God’s declaration from the heavens at
Jesus’ baptism in 3:17 and God’s voice from a fulfillment quote in 12:17-18 that
Jesus, now on his way to suffering and death (16:21), is still “my beloved Son,
with whom I am well pleased” (17:5).

God’s voice from the cloud (17:5) serves as the pivotal mandate that
distinguishes Jesus from Moses and Elijah as God’s beloved, favored Son and
commands the disciples and the audience to listen to Jesus. The mandate thus
“pivots” them back to Jesus’ previous teaching about the kingdom of heaven,
especially his teaching about the necessity for him and his followers to suffer
and be put to death in 16:21-27 before entering into the glory of the kingdom of
heaven anticipated by Jesus’ transfiguration.

Upon hearing God’s voice from the bright, overshadowing cloud, the
disciples react in a way typical in epiphanies. They fell upon their face and
were greatly frightened, overwhelmed into a fearful submission (17:6). After
Jesus, restored to his pre-transfiguration, earthly status, approached the
disciples and compassionately touched them, he strengthened and reassured them
with a formula common to epiphanies, “Arise and do not be afraid” (17:7). Only
in Matthew does Jesus utter words that complement the voice of God from the
cloud by encouraging the disciples and the audience to heed the divine mandate.

The pivotal mandatory epiphany concludes with the earthly Jesus as
the only one of the epiphanic figures remaining with the disciples (17:8). A
dramatic suspense has been established for the remainder of the narrative: Will
the disciples and the audience heed the pivotal epiphanic mandate and listen to
Jesus in order to understand the way that he and they will attain the heavenly
glory anticipated by his transfiguration?

The Matthean Transfiguration and the Subsequent Narrative

The transfiguration’s mandate in Matthew, “Listen to him!” (17:5),
has pivoted the disciples and the audience back to Jesus’ previous
pronouncements for them to follow him on his way to suffering and death before
being raised to heavenly glory (10:38-39; 16:21-27). It has also pivoted them
forward to the subsequent predictions of the necessity for him (17:12, 22-23;
20:18-19; 21:33-46; 26:2, 12, 26-29, 31-35, 36-46) as well as them (20:20-28) to
spend their lives in selfless, suffering service for others with the assurance
of being raised from the dead (17:9; 22:23-33; 27:50-53) and seeing his final
coming in the heavenly glory (24:30; 25:31; 26:64) prefigured by his
transfiguration.

In the person of John the Baptist Elijah has already come (17:13),
yet they put him to death (14:5; 17:12), as Jesus will be put to death. The
audience realizes then that Elijah has not “come first” (17:10) as the heavenly
figure the disciples witnessed in the transfiguration epiphany (17:3).
Furthermore, Elijah will not come to save Jesus from death on the cross
(27:46-49), because unlike the Elijah in the transfiguration epiphany, who
attained heavenly glory without being put to death, Jesus must suffer death
before attaining the heavenly glory foreshadowed by his transfiguration.

The disciples’ great sadness at Jesus’ prediction of his death and
resurrection in 17:23 further illustrates their “little faith” (17:20), their
failure to share the firm faith of Jesus himself in God’s power to heal the
possessed boy (17:14-20) and to raise Jesus from the dead to the heavenly glory
indicated by his transfiguration.

The dramatic Gethsemane prayer of Jesus in 26:36-46 empowers the
audience to play their role in God’s plan by watching and praying. By praying
in imitation and on the strength of Jesus’ prayer, they can submit their wills
to God’s will (26:39, 42) and follow Jesus’ way of suffering and death, as they
await Jesus’ final coming in the glory prefigured by his transfiguration (16:27;
24:30; 25:31; 26:64).

The triumphant appearing of the “holy ones,” who were raised from
the dead when Jesus died in 27:50-52, to the many in the holy city of Jerusalem
after Jesus’ resurrection (27:53) encourages the audience that they also will
share in the resurrection of Jesus prefigured by his transfiguration, if they
are willing to take up the cross and lose their lives for the sake of Jesus
(10:38-39; 16:24-27).

The gentile soldiers’ climactic confession at the death of Jesus,
“Truly this was the Son of God!” in 27:54, confirms not only that of Jesus
himself before the high priest in 26:63-64, that of Peter in 16:16 and the
disciples in 14:33, but also that of God himself at the baptism and
transfiguration of Jesus--“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased!”
(3:17; 17:5). The trustful submission to God’s will (26:39, 42) that Jesus
demonstrates in dying on the cross provides the audience with a model for their
own obedient submission to God’s will that they take up the cross and follow
Jesus. The transfiguration’s pivotal mandate has been urging the disciples and
the audience to heed the challenge of Jesus’ passion predictions in order to
understand that Jesus is truly God’s beloved and favored Son by dying on the
cross (unlike Moses and Elijah) with faith that God will vindicate him by
raising him from death to the heavenly glory foreshadowed by his
transfiguration.

The angel’s message that Jesus, the crucified one, has been raised
from the dead “just as he said” in 28:6 emphatically confirms the fulfillment of
Jesus’ predictions that he would indeed be raised from the dead (16:21; 17:9,
22; 20:19; 26:32), which the transfiguration’s pivotal mandate has urged the
disciples and audience to heed (17:5). The disciples and audience can now tell
others of the transfiguration (17:9), because Jesus’ resurrection from the dead
makes clear that his transfiguration was a temporary anticipation of the
heavenly glory he would attain only after suffering death at the hands of his
people--unlike Moses and Elijah--and being raised by God. Now that Jesus has
become the glorified, heavenly figure that was prefigured by his temporary
transfiguration while on earth, he is able to remain permanently with his
disciples and the audience, so that they can fulfill the risen Jesus’ mandate
that they make disciples of all nations by baptizing them and teaching all that
Jesus commanded (28:19-20).

The Lukan Transfiguration and the Antecedent Narrative

Since Jesus has prayed before very significant events in his
ministry (3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18), that he took along Peter and John and James
when he went up to the mountain to pray (9:28) prepares the audience for yet
another very significant event. While Jesus was praying on the mountain, there
suddenly occurs a spectacular epiphany of his transfiguration into a heavenly
figure, as “the appearance of his face became different and his clothing
dazzling white” (9:29). This dramatic change in the face and clothing of Jesus
signals to the audience that he has been externally and temporarily transformed
by God into a heavenly being while still on earth. It anticipates his future
and permanent attainment of glory in heaven as promised to the righteous after
their death.

The initial epiphanic transfiguration of Jesus in the presence of
the three disciples is immediately followed by an additional epiphanic
appearance of two men, Moses and Elijah, who appear in glory and talk with Jesus
about his “exodus,” which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem (9:30-31).
Jesus’ “exodus” or “departure” refers to the way that he will leave this earthly
life by the death and resurrection he has just predicted (9:22). Unlike Moses
and Elijah, who have attained heavenly glory without being put to death by their
people, Jesus will attain the glory prefigured by his temporary transformation
into a heavenly figure only after being rejected and killed by the Jewish
leaders (9:22). That Jesus “was about to accomplish” his exodus in Jerusalem
expresses its divine inevitability, further linking it to the divine necessity
of his death and resurrection. That Jesus will accomplish his exodus from the
earthly to the heavenly realm “in Jerusalem” prepares the audience for his
journey to the city where the elders, chief priests, and scribes will play their
role in his exodus that will lead to his ultimate coming in glory (9:26).

Although the three disciples had been overcome with sleep so that
they did not hear the conversation about Jesus’ approaching “exodus,” they
became wide awake in time to see the glory of the transfigured Jesus and that of
Moses and Elijah standing with him(9:32).
That upon awakening they only saw the two men standing with him
underlines for the audience that while the three disciples were asleep they
failed to hear these same two men talking with him. That Moses and
Elijah were standing with the transfigured Jesus associates his glory with that
of these two men, who were likewise appearing in glory (9:31).

The narrator tells the audience that Peter did not know what he was
saying when he offered that they make a tent for each epiphanic figure. Peter
wants to prepare a dwelling place for each heavenly figure to prolong his
epiphanic appearance on earth, and thus to halt and render unnecessary the
separation of Moses and Elijah from Jesus that has already begun (9:33). On
analogy with the Tent of Meeting each tent would also provide a place for each
heavenly figure to offer divine communication. But the audience experiences the
irony that a heavenly communication, the conversation about Jesus’ “exodus” in
Jerusalem (9:31), has already taken place while the three disciples were asleep
(9:32).

Placing the transfigured Jesus on the same level and in the same
category as the heavenly figures of Moses and Elijah implies that perhaps Jesus,
despite his previous prediction about the necessity of his suffering and death
before resurrection on the third day (9:22), has already or will attain heavenly
glory like Moses and Elijah, that is, without being put to death by his people.
Peter does not seem to realize that Jesus will attain the same heavenly glory he
now momentarily shares with Moses and Elijah only after he has been put to death
as a rejected prophet in Jerusalem.

But Peter is interrupted by yet another sudden and unexpected
epiphanic appearance as a cloud overshadowed Moses and Elijah, implicitly
transporting them back to heaven. The disciples responded with fear as Moses
and Elijah entered into the cloud (9:34). After Jesus’ baptism God’s voice from
heaven told Jesus, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased!”
(3:22). But now God tells the three disciples, “This is my chosen Son; to him
listen!” (9:35). This confirms for the audience that the Jesus to whom God gave
the holy Spirit at his baptism will also play the role of the Isaianic suffering
servant of God.

God’s voice from the cloud (9:35) serves as the pivotal mandate that
distinguishes Jesus from Moses and Elijah as God’s chosen Son and commands the
disciples and the audience to listen to Jesus. The mandate thus “pivots” them
back to the previous teaching of Jesus (8:8, 18), especially his teaching about
the necessity for him and his followers to suffer and be put to death (9:21-27)
before entering into the heavenly glory of God’s kingdom anticipated by Jesus’
transfiguration. The pivotal mandatory epiphany concludes with Jesus again
alone with the disciples, who kept silent and reported to no one in those days
any of the things they had seen (9:36). Will the disciples and the audience
heed the pivotal epiphanic mandate and listen to Jesus in order to understand
the way that he and they will attain the heavenly glory anticipated by his
transfiguration? Only by truly listening to Jesus will they be able to break
their silence and report in the days to come what they have experienced in the
transfiguration epiphany.

The Lukan Transfiguration and the Subsequent Narrative

The
transfiguration’s mandate in Luke, “To him listen!” (9:35), has pivoted the
disciples and the audience back to Jesus’ previous pronouncement for them to
appropriate into their lives the suffering and death he will undergo before
being raised to heavenly glory (9:22-26). It has also pivoted them forward to
the subsequent predictions of the necessity for him to suffer and be put to
death as a rejected prophet in Jerusalem (9:44, 51-56; 13:33-35; 18:31-33;
20:9-19; 22:14-23, 39-46; 24:4-7, 25-27, 44-46) as well as for them to spend
their lives in selfless, suffering service for others (9:41; 10:39; 22:24-27;
23:35) with the assurance of being raised from the dead (20:27-39) and sharing
in the heavenly glory (21:27; 22:69-70; 23:11; 24:26, 51) prefigured by his
transfiguration. Obeying the transfiguration’s mandate to listen especially to
Jesus’ passion predictions was necessary so that the risen Jesus could explain
to the non-understanding disciples (9:45, 54-55; 18:34; 22:24-27; 24:8-11) the
necessity for his suffering and death before entering into the glory (24:25-27,
44-46) anticipated by his transfiguration.

The eventual absence of Jesus with his extraordinary healing power,
anticipated at his transfiguration, challenges the audience to have the faith to
continue the healing mission of Jesus (9:41; cf. 9:1-6; 10:1-9). That Jesus
resolutely set his “face” for the accomplishment of his “exodus” (9:31) in
Jerusalem (9:51-53), the same “face” that was temporarily transfigured into
glory (9:29), models for the audience the determination they need to undergo
suffering and death before attaining heavenly glory (9:22-26). By attentively
listening to the word of Jesus (10:39), Mary is a model of obedience to the
transfiguration’s mandate to listen to Jesus (9:35). By following her example
the audience will realize that the words of Jesus call disciples to a selfless
service that follows Jesus on the divinely necessary way of his suffering and
death (9:21), in order to share in the resurrection to glory (9:22-26)
anticipated by his transfiguration.

Unlike the rejected prophets Moses and Elijah, the prophet Jesus
will not only be rejected but killed by the people of Jerusalem (13:33-34),
although he is God’s beloved and chosen Son (20:13; 9:35). But his
transfiguration into heavenly glory (9:29-32) assures the audience that Jesus’
death as a rejected prophet will be vindicated by God raising him (9:22; 20:17),
so that he will come again in glory (9:26; 13:35).

Jesus’ transfiguration into an angel-like heavenly figure (9:29),
which foreshadows his future resurrection from the dead, reinforces for the
audience his assertion that those who attain the resurrection of the dead enter
into a heavenly existence that transcends earthly categories (20:34-36). If the
audience heeds the transfiguration’s mandate to listen to Jesus (9:35), they
will hear that although Jesus, unlike Moses and Elijah, will be put to death, he
will surely be raised from the dead like the patriarchs, since God is “not the
God of the dead but of the living” (20:38).

The transfiguration’s pivotal mandate to listen to Jesus (9:35)
directs the audience backward (9:26) and forward (21:27) to pronouncements about
Jesus’ future coming in glory, so that they will realize that the transfigured
glory of Jesus before his suffering and death is only a preliminary glimpse of
his final coming in glory after his suffering, death and resurrection. It
enjoins the audience to listen to the words of Jesus at his last supper in order
to understand that his transfiguration into a heavenly figure portends his
future partaking of the heavenly banquet in the kingdom of God that will occur
only after his sacrificial death (22:14-20).

By following Jesus’ example of prayer (22:39-46) the audience can
overcome the temptation not to submit their wills to God’s will that they
participate in Jesus’ way of suffering and death before sharing in heavenly
glory. The audience can now pray not only in imitation of but on the strength
of Jesus’ prayer. Just as Jesus gained courage by his prayer and by faith in
his ultimate triumph over death (22:69), so the disciples and the audience can
gain courage to endure possible suffering and death (21:12-19), in order to
share in the heavenly glory presaged by the transfiguration of Jesus.

That Herod clothes Jesus in a bright shining garment (23:11) fit for
a heavenly being further assures the audience that Jesus will attain the
heavenly glory signaled by the dazzling white clothing of his transfiguration
(9:29). By dying on the cross as God’s “chosen one” (23:35; cf. 9:35), Jesus
models for the audience his provocative challenge, which the transfiguration’s
mandate urged them to heed--”whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (9:24; cf. 23:35).

Even after two angelic men revealed Jesus’ resurrection to the women
at the tomb, the disciples did not believe the women (24:4-11). But the risen
Jesus himself enabled first the Emmaus disciples (24:25-27, 32) and then the
whole group of disciples in Jerusalem (24:44-46) and thus the audience to
understand that, now that he has been put to death and accomplished “his exodus”
in Jerusalem (9:31), he has entered into the glory (24:26) anticipated by his
transfiguration (9:32). By continuing to heed the transfiguration’s pivotal
mandate (9:35) to listen to Jesus’ exhortation to appropriate his suffering and
death into their lives (9:22-25), the audience can look forward to sharing in
the heavenly glory (24:26) of the risen Jesus when he comes again as the exalted
Son of Man (9:26; 21:27). Indeed, now that Jesus has ascended to heaven (24:51)
and rejoined the heavenly Moses and Elijah, the audience no longer needs to keep
silent about the things the disciples saw in the transfiguration epiphany
(9:36).